Archive for May, 2007

I’m not a fan of fast food chains. I stopped eating red meat well over a decade ago and try to eat somewhat healthy (stop laughing, I said TRY!), but that’s not all of it.

I’ve disliked McDonald’s from childhood, when a fry overindulgence made me sick. I’d never eat the hamburgers, opting instead for the Filet O’ Fish and whatever it was over at Burger King (the chicken sandwiches had yet to be introduced, at least where I lived). The thought of it makes me feel a bit queasy now, but that’s the way it was. I was given the parental warning not to relate my vomit story when friends’ parents would take us there for a “treat.” Ironically, it’s the fries I’ll still eat. (I go for the ones at Burger King given a choice.)

The only time I have willing gone to McD’s in the past 10 years was when they were putting Sanrio goodies in the Happy Meals. I should have known better, they had run out and I ended up with non-Sanrio junk, questionable chicken parts, and soggy fries.

When I’m forced to it (road trips), I look for a Taco Bell. The E. coli and rat stories* do tend to turn the tummy, but I’ll still take the exit when I see the friendly bell on the sign.

See, I don’t totally abstain. I think my cousin and I pretty much survived on Taco Bell bean burritos and Burger King fries on a cross-country trek once. Boy were we excited when we found that salad bar in Iowa, though!

When it comes down to it on a normal day, it’s just generally not worth it in my book. Fast food products may look yummy on tv, you get this vision of indulging in a guilty pleasure, you cave, go buy some, open it up…and are disappointed. (See this website for advertising images vs. the reality of that juicy burger you think you crave.)

I do realize I’m lucky that I live in NYC where the options are just too numerous to have to resort to fast food chains. I understand that most people do not have multiple fast-but-quality takeout restaurants in their neighborhoods. I totally get not wanting to cook every meal or spend a bundle on it. And many of the big fast food companies do seem to be trying somewhat to make things healthier and such. But I’m still probably not going to eat it, unless I am on the road and running on empty!

So that’s my opinion. I’m not going to tell anyone else to not eat at McD’s or its counterparts or try to shut them down or anything. I get that the Big Mac makes many people very happy. I’d just rather eat somewhere else, please.

* On cleanliness of restaurants and worrying about it: You are never really going to know what’s going on in the kitchen or what ends up in your food whether you are at a top restaurant or a KFC. You eat out, you accept that. (If you are in a third world country, worry a bit more.) The horror stories aren’t what turn me off about fast food chains.

I have collected these bags of cuteness over the years. Five were gifts, two I bought myself. (Several friends are probably shocked I only own seven.) The majority of the small purses I carry are probably Hello Kitty. Why not, right?

I’ll try to have some sort of theme for each post, seeing as I do not have an overall theme for this blog. I’m likely to range from semi-serious to silly, for the record.

Let’s start with blogging itself! As a web designer, I think the whole blogging phenomenon is pretty interesting. I also find it rather intriguing as a sometime-writer.

Why blog? There are many possible reasons to start a blog. It’s a way to self-publish for one, with basically no one to answer to but whoever your readers happen to be. This applies to professional writers and the inexperienced alike. It’s true of a lot of the web in general, and you get the good with the bad.

Promotion is another reason to blog. Weblogs can promote businesses, books, political campaigns…the list goes on. A lot of websites are adding blogs because it is the “thing to do” these days, and that can often be a mistake (see my comments below about keeping an audience).

Some blogs may seem pointless to anyone other than the author, but even then the person posting gets—hopefully—some satisfaction from the writing of it.

In general, people just have something to say, and they want others to read it.

Who’s reading? To get read by many people from the start, a blogger has to be associated with a known entity (for example, the many NY Times bloggers—check out “The Pour,” a wine blog). Otherwise, you must have a theme or writing style that will draw an audience, keep it interesting, and keep it coming! So many potentially great blogs die when the blogger stops posting regularly.

As I mention above, there is no theme for this blog as a whole. That pretty much destroys my chances of building a loyal readership other than friends and family, but I’m ok with that. Perhaps a theme will come through as I go on (and on and on), but for now I’ll likely be all over the place. If I really wanted to get read, I’d need some sort of gimmick.

Those are my thoughts for now on blogs! I wish all of you serious bloggers out there much luck.

An archived blog (ie. no longer updated) of interest is the Julie/Julia Project. It’s a crazy cooking journey and a classic blog-to-book story. I got to watch from beginning to end and even sample some of the results. It’s what happens when someone has a great idea, is a great writer, and sticks to it at all costs!

So, I could blog on my own website or make use of the blog feature on MySpace (or countless other similar sites), but somehow it just really amuses me to use HelloKitty.com’s blog!

This is an installation of Wordpress on www.sanriotown.com. I’ve used this on some of my client’s websites, it’s good software. Of course, using it here I have no control whatsoever, so we’ll see how long this lasts!

I recently traveled to Thailand, which was amazing. My friend Jen is mega-jaunting around the globe, you should read her blog (it’s infinitely better than mine, though I did make her website).